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Poems and Tales of Middle-Earth:
(illustrations by Alan Lee) |
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"There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they drew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now sawing in the middle.
The landlord keeps a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's good cheer among the guests,
He cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until it chokes.
They also keep a horned cow
as proud as any queen;
But music turns her head like ale,
And makes her wave her tufted tail
and dance upon the green.
And O! the rows of silver dishes
and the stores of silver spoons!
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
on Saturday afternoons.
The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,
and the cat began to wail;
A dish and a spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
and the little dog chased his tail.
The Man in the Moon took another mug,
and then rolled beneath his chair;
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
and dawn was in the air.
Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
'The white horses of the Moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits;
But their master's been and drowned his wits,
and the Sun'll be rising soon!'
So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
a jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:
'It's after three!' he said.
They rolled the Man slowly up the hill
and bundled him into the Moon,
While his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
and a dish ran up with the spoon.
Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
the dog began to roar,
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
The guests all bounded from their beds
and danced upon the floor.
With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke!
the cow jumped over the Moon,
and the little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
with the silver Sunday spoon.
The round Moon rolled behind the hill
as the Sun raised up her head.
She hardly believed her fiery eyes;
For though it was day, to her surprise
they all went back to bed!
(Bilbo's inn song)
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The Lord of the Rings
Part I. The Fellowship of the Ring
Quotes from Tolkien's Novel
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| In Bree. |
"The audience all opened their mouths wide for laughter, and stopped short in gaping in
silence; for the singer disappeared. He simply vanished as if he had gone slap through the floor without leaving
a hole [...]. Frodo felt a fool. Not knowing what else to do, he crawled away under the tables to the dark corner by
Strider, who sat unmoved, giving no sign of his thoughts. Frodo leaned back against the wall and took off the Ring. How
it came to be on his finger he could not tell. He could only supposed that he had been handling it in his pocket while
he sang, and that somehow it had slipped on when he stuck out his hand with a jerk to save his fall. For a moment
he wondered if the Ring itself had not played him a trick; perhaps it had tried to reveal itself in response to some
wish or command that was felt in the room. He did not like the looks of the men that had gone out." |
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"Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
(Bilbo's song for Aragorn in Gandalf's letter)
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"The Hobbits looked at him [Strider], and saw with surprise that his face was drawn as if with pain, and
his hands clenched the arms of his chair. The room was very quiet and still, and the light seemed to have grown dim.
For a while, he sat with unseeing eyes as if walking in distant memory or listening to sounds in the Night far away.
'There!' he cried after a moment, drawing his hand across his brow. 'Perhaps I know more about
these pursuers [Ringwraiths] than you do. You fear them , but you do not fear them enough, yet." |
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"In dark and loneliness they [Ringwraiths] are strongest; they will not openly attack a house
where there are lights and many people - not until they are desperate. [...] But their power is in terror, and already
some in Bree are in their clutch.. They will drive these wretches to some evil work." |
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"The night deepened. There came the soft sound of horses led with stealth along the lane.
Outside the gate they stopped, and three black figures entered, like shades of night creeping across the ground [...] In
the dark without moon or stars a drawn blade gleamed, as if a chill light had been unsheathed." |
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" 'There is one crumb of comfort,' said Merry, 'and more than a crumb, I hope:
we can have breakfast while we wait - and sit down to it.' " |
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